My Blog Makeover ,How to Make a Blog Grab Button, and Blog Hints Linky Party

Hello Teacher Friends!
Is it August already?? I know we are all busy getting our classrooms organized for a new bunch of kiddo's, and some teachers have already gone back to school, YIKES! One thing on my summer "To Do" list was to redesign my blog before school started. If you read my blog, you will notice my bloggy makeover is finally near completion.. I did like my owl themed blog,remember me.....

but I was noticing it more often on other blogs as it was one of the great free blog layouts available. I was loving the blogs with a wider layout because I thought they were a lot easier to read and appeared 'less cluttered'. Do you like the new look?

I had a blog button on my blog before but for some reason when I typed in my new codes it was not working. Several google searches and attempts later I finally got the button to work. So, I decided to post directions to making a grab button (that will hopefully work for you as well). Once I found a code that worked the entire process took about 20 minutes.

1. The first thing you will need to create your blog button is an image that you will use to represent your blog. It works best if your image is relatively square, but we can resize it later.
2. Once you have your button upload it to an online site. I use Photobucket as it is free and also has some great photo editing tools. Go upload your photo now. :)
3. Ready? You will need to resize the image to 150x150. You can do this in Photobucket. Click on the image that you uploaded. You will see an image toolbar across the image. Select 'RESIZE' then 'OTHER OPTIONS'. It will take you to a screen that looks like this.

Click on 'ADJUSTMENTS'.

Click on 'RESIZE'.

Set your image size to 150 X 150 and then apply the changes and save. Your image is now resized and ready for your button!
Here is the code you will need to create your button on your blog.

You will need the image code from Photobucket for your button. You can find it here:

Now just insert that code where you see "Your Button Image URL". Then insert your blog information and TADA...you have your code. Now go into your Blogger Layout and add a Gadget. You will select 'add HTML'. Copy the code and save. You have now added a blog button with a grab box to your blog!!

Creating the new blog layout was a lot easier than I thought it would be. It really required no html knowledge at all to make the simple changes that I made. Please leave me a comment and let me know if you like the new look!

I am venturing out in the bloggy world once again and trying a blog linky for Blog Tips and Tutorials. If you have a helpful post or tutorial for new bloggers, please link up below.

I can tell you how I did it if your blog is through blogger. It was fairly easy...I just didnt find much in the way of tutorials. Had to figure it out through trial and error. If you have all your elements (background, banner, etc) it is easy to load up.